A Crime to Contextualize by Ridzwan.com
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Editor, Ridzwan.com
http://ridzwandotcom.blogspot.com/2009/11/crime-to-contextualize.html
A US Army psychiatrist gunned down 13 people at a Texas military base last Thursday. Major Nidal Malik Hasan, who is currently fighting of his life in intensive care after he was suppressed by return fire, was due to be deployed in Afghanistan. He was reportedly opposed to this deployment. The sudden loss of innocent life anywhere by anyone is a tragedy and our heart goes out to relatives of the victims at Fort Hood.
But what appears to be more tragic is the manner in which our media have jumped on the opportunity to immediately contextualize the perpetrator based on his ethnicity and his religion. Major Nidal is an American-born Muslim with parents of Palestinian heritage. When news of this senseless massacre broke, headlines everywhere screamed “Muslim Soldier Kills 13 in Mass Shooting at Fort Hood”. These headlines include the one that was broadcast by Mediacorp’s Channel 5 and Channel News Asia on the 6th November 2009.
These seemingly tacit headlines may not seem like much to the undiscerning reader. But a quarter of humanity cannot help but wonder, why is a person’s religion not mentioned in the headline except for when the perpetrator is a Muslim? After all, when 44-year old Sergeant John M. Russel went on a shooting spree and killed 5 of his fellow soldiers at a US Army base in Baghdad not so long ago in an eerily similar misdemeanor, the same treatment on his religion and ethnic heritage was not given. Why did our headlines not scream “Christian Soldier Kills 5 in Mass Shooting at Camp Liberty”?
In the context of a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic communities , insinuations of this sort does little to add to the value of the story. If there is little evidence the killings at Fort Hood and Camp Liberty were done in the name of the respective religions, then what is the value of predicating a person’s religion and ethnicity into the headline of the story? Muslim soldiers are fast becoming part of the landscape not only in the US Army, but the armies of many other western countries as well. A person’s religious affiliation is a not a suitable attribute to be made a novelty of, especially so in the backdrop of a violent shooting spree that has the potential to inflame deep-seated ethnic and religious resentments.
The relationship between Islam and Christianity have had an uneasy past and will continue to do so in the near future as conflicts around the world take on an overtly religious tone. Unnecessary provocations such as these do not help in convincing Muslim communities that they are not being deliberately targeted as part of a subtle right-wing agenda. It also threatens to negate all the effort we have made towards enlightening the masses on religious harmony and the true nature of Islam.
Media channels such as Channel 5 and Channel News Asia should have known better, especially since they are serving the needs of a significant Muslim population in Singapore, then to fall into the temptation of pointless religious predications. For all the nation-building efforts it has espoused in the past, this display of religious insensitivity has left us very much surprised.
The manner in which Major Nidal’s crime has been framed have sadly put America’s Muslims on yet another defensive stance. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) have issued a statement in condemning the act and warning Muslims to protect themselves against any violence from the American people. But the real damage has already been done-on the perception of Muslims towards our media.
The writer is a student enrolled in the Bachelor of Islamic Revealed Knowledge at the International Islamic University & doing the Master of Science (Strategic Studies) at the Nanyang Technological University.
Shopping mall atau masjid? Pilihlah.. oleh Abu Amar
Weekend adalah saat-saat yang dinanti-nantikan. Apakan tidak… inilah hari-hari di mana peluang untuk keluar dari suasana rumah atau tempat kerja di mana sebahagian besar masa yang aku telah luangkan.
Akupun memilih destinasiku.. Ikea Damansara. Mak datuk betapa ramainya orang. Maka pilihan aku tidak silap lagi. Kerana di situ aku bersama-sama ribuan manusia bersesak-sesak. Pengamatanku mengatakan ribuan manusia itu sebahagian besarnya daripada umat Islam. Jadi aku bersama-sama ribuan orang Islam sedang menikmati dunia ini yang pastinya memikat kalbu. Dunia itu indah. Dunia itu lazat… Dunia itu wangi… Dunia itu memberahikan… Dunia itu menyebabkan aku lupa kealpaan..
Aku di kalangan ribuan manusia yang berugama Islam ini sekiranya memenuhi masjid sebagaimana sesaknya di pusat membeli-belah itu tentulah menyerlahkan seribu manfaat masjid. Kenapa masjid lesu dan lengang? Kini masjid seolah-olah menjadi tugu peringatan. Cantik, kaku dan lesu.
Masjid-masjid di zaman Rasulullah adalah pusat kecemerlangan ummah kini ketandusan umat. Masjid di tanah airku telah dilemparkan nasib serupa seperti gereja-gereja di barat. Mungkin masjid itu perlu diubah strategi mengimarahkan masjid. Adakah perlu diupah amoi-amoi yang lawa-lawa seksi menjadi promoter masjid barulah berbondong-bondong manusia menuju ke masjid? Ataupun si imam tua dan jawatankuasa masjid yang sentiasa sibuk mengira-ngira duit tabung masjid itu perlu ditukar dengan manusia pakar konsultansi atau motivasi yang sering terpampang di layar tv. Ataupun teknokrat-teknokrat masjid perlu diberi gaji ribu-ribu ringgit mengambil tugas menyeru orang-orang Islam ke masjid supaya masjid yang kemarau jemaah dikembalikan martabatnya itu.
Kenapa masjid yang mengorbankan jutaan ringgit yang ditaruk lampu-lampu chandelier itu lesu? Tidak padan dengan pengunjung-pengunjung tetap yang hanya menjangkau puluhan orang dan tidak pernah mencecah ratusan jemaah siang mahupun malamnya. Hanya angka ribuan tercatat bila masjid itu dilawati oleh hari Jumaat atau awal Ramadan. Selepas itu ia menjadi lesu dan terus lesu.
Al quran dan Hadis tidak mampu menggilap minat umat Islam Malaysia seperti aku mengimarahkan masjid. Alangkah bodoh dan gelapnya hatiku..
Aku lebih ceria bila amoi-amoi promoter di shopping mall menjelaskan nilai-nilai komersial barang promosi. Amoi-amoi itu tetap melontar senyuman menggoda walaupun aku bukanlah pelanggan tetapnya atau orang yang dikenalinya.
Bila aku tiba di masjid aku khuatir dileteri oleh si imam atau orang-orang masjid yang tidak mesra pelanggan itu. Si imam selalunya melontarkan keluhan-keluhan betapa buruk dan jahatnya umat Islam di sana sini. Bukannya khutbah motivasikan aku agar segar menghayati perintah Allah dan sunnah Nabi. Leteran mingguan ini bakal melesukan aku yang terus lesu.
Alangkah bodohnya aku bila ke masjid…. Kenapa masjid berubah menjadi penjara. Gril di tingkap dan pintu-pintu masjid menyeramkan daku. Kononnya mencegah penagih yang juga kebanyakannya dari umat serumpunku. Adakah sekuriti keselamatan masjid perlu begini? Bukan masjid saja di gril, bahkan tandas-tandas masjid juga kena digril. Ngerinya aku memikirkan jika aku ingin berteduh sementara waktu sebelum meneruskan perantauan aku. Bagaimana ketika itu aku ingin menyempurnakan hajatku ketika aku sakit perut.
Akhir kata… masjid tetap lesu, shopping mall tetap ceria.. Masjid menjadi tugu… shopping mall tetap menggoda aku untuk mengembara ke sana… Oh imam.. Oh ajk masjid… bilakah korang nak berubah agar aku yang jahil ni menjadi pengunjung setia masjid…